As it is generally known, existing instant messaging systems have the capability to translate text from one language to another almost instantaneously during instant messaging sessions. However, instant messaging participants using the same language in an instant messaging session, but originating from different cultures, tend to use different abbreviations during the session, and existing translation programs do not effectively translate such abbreviations between such users.
In addition, people who speak one language will at times mimic terms from another language directly, for example, using a similar sounding word or expression in their native language to represent a foreign term. For example, when native Chinese speakers wish to express the English term “bye bye” (e.g. at the end of an instant messaging session), they often type the term “88”, since in Chinese the number eight is pronounced “Ba” (which sounds like “bye” to a Chinese speaker), and accordingly the number eighty-eight in Chinese when spoken sounds very similar to the English term “bye bye”. Native Chinese speakers may also enter the characters  at the end of an instant messaging system, which literally mean “to pay respect; worship; visit; salute”, but which are pronounced “bai bai”, and thus also sound like “bye bye”. Similarly, when people want to express the phrase “it is cool” in Chinese, they use the abbreviation  which is pronounced as “ku” in Chinese, even though the word  does not mean “it is cool” at all.
Foreign language abbreviations and “sound alike” phonetic expressions are being used in instant messaging session more and more. However, in existing instant messaging systems, only standard translation is provided, and the abbreviated terms and/or phonetic expressions introduced from foreign languages are not accurately translated. Accordingly, using existing translation tools, the foreign abbreviation “88”, or  will not be accurately translated into “bye bye”. Similarly, the foreign abbreviation  will not be translated into “it is cool”.
For example, an instant messaging session may be held between user A from the United States and user B from China. Towards the end of that instant messaging session, user B may type the numbers 88, with the intended meaning of “bye bye” in English (for which it is a “sound alike” phonetic expression). However, User A is likely to have no clue what 88 means, and the on-line dictionary won't be of any help.
In another example, a Quebecer user might forget that he or she is chatting with an American, and use the abbreviation MDR, which stands for “mort de rire”, roughly translating to “dead laughing”. Unless the American user is familiar with the Quebecer culture, he or she is not likely to infer that MDR stands for LOL (the common American abbreviation for “laughing out loud”).
In both of the above examples, even if the instant messaging session is being translated in real-time using an existing language translator, existing translation dictionaries are not able to effectively translate common instant messaging abbreviations such as 88, MDR, and the like.
There is some existing technology for converting standard dictionary English to abbreviations. For example, using an existing text messaging service (e.g. provided from the Web site https://www.vtext.com/customer_site/jsp/messaging_lo.jsp), a user can have standard English converted to abbreviated English, as in the following example:
Original: Hi, how are you? This is a test of a text message translator.                Goodbye!        
Converted: Hi, how R U? This is a test of a TXT MSG translator.                Goodbye!        
In summary, existing technologies are available for translating between dictionary English and other languages' dictionaries, and for converting dictionary English to abbreviated English. However, a significant shortcoming of existing systems is that they cannot translate abbreviations in a foreign language (“foreign abbreviations”) into standard English or abbreviated English.